Black and Black: Reckoning
by WedgePalmer
Summary: A crippled god persues his old rival and foe to avenge the death of his creature. He is so caught up in his revenge, can he even protect his own people from death, both at the hands of the enemy; and even the weather? This is the story of the god, Blitz.
1. Beachhead

I gazed down on the destruction below me as my followers tumbled from the portal that I had emerged from

**Beachhead**

I gazed down on the destruction below me as my followers tumbled from the portal that I had emerged from. The island was a rough diamond shape with us at the south corner. There was a rugged mountain in the middle of the landmass; like a boil on a foot. It has a small cluster of houses and a village totem set into the top, and two narrow paths winding round it on either side. Behind the hideous lump of a mountain was the top corner with a raised part of land like a smaller version of the mountain. There were two clusters of spiked; uninhabited mountains that curled like arms around this raised 'dais' and on the top of _that _was a massive village. Most normal villages in the realm were small affairs with fewer than thirty houses apiece. I counted at least fourty-five, along with a totem, two storehouses and several scaffold-makers'. To the left of the central mountain was a medium (fifteen house) town that was surrounded by swaying golden cornfields. I guessed this was my nemesis' food provider. On the eastern corner of the island was a cluster of mountains that formed a narrow valley in between them. This was uninhabited but I thought I could probably build a village there later, when I had gathered my resources and power; speaking of which…

My small cadre of thirty villagers was clustered on the patch of burned grass where the portal had been about ten minutes ago. I swooped down and took on my humanoid form. I say humanoid because although it looks human, I stand at least eight foot tall and have a pale white complexion with electric blue eyes. My followers have begun to refer to them as the eyes of judgement, which makes me feel proud that they are starting to respect me.

"My flock" I announced; landing next to them. "There will be a great war between another god and I. You must help me by building up a village and worshipping me to give me power!"

There was a murmur of voices and I realised that they were staring up at the large imposing mountain that stared down at us. It looked like it could judge the humans in a way my eyes could not. Upon the peak of the mountain was a figure, looking at me with a pair of glowing white eyes.

"Knylus!" I hissed. My foe was watching me already. I leapt to my feet which were suddenly clad in boots with spiked toecaps and a suit of blue-green armour appeared on my body. As a final adornment; a pair of shoulder plates with foot-long spikes sprang from my shoulders and a helmet with bull's horns appeared on my head. I soared to the summit of the mountain with a single bound and aimed a fireball at the other god. He rolled to one side and the flames scorched a hole in the rock. I landed in a catlike fighting stance before him; on the lip of the cliff.

"Greetings my enemy!" he chuckled "still jumpy?"

Our last encounter had resulted much of a settlement I had spent a year building being wiped out. Since then; I had perused Knylus doggedly; destroying or converting his villages and eradicating belief in him. I'd thought I had beaten him when he took shelter in his temple and I destroyed it with him inside. After it had burned to the ground; I had discovered an underground vault inside; leading to this island.

"Cheating sod" I snarled "I thought I'd won back then!"

"I cannot express how much pity I feel for you…" He drawled sarcastically. He was a tall god, almost nine feet, with a shaggy mane of black hair that stopped halfway down his back and had on a suit of golden armour; decorated with curved spikes like mine. His head was uncovered and I watched his face twist into a sneer.

"I would be foolish to allow my enemy to get a beachhead in my territory. That means you can kiss goodbye to your town." He said. Raising his arms; Knylus hurled three man-sized balls of magma down towards the little cluster of scaffolds and tents that were being built. I quickly leaped backward; performing a mid-air twist worthy of a gymnast and overtook the fireball miracle. I then hurriedly made the gestures of miracle protection and projection: creating a dome of light that surrounded my village and caused the fireballs to skim the top and fall off the edge of the cliff where my village was situated; into the ocean. Enraged, I span and created a series of fireballs which I hurled at the still-smirking god and his mountaintop town. He blocked the first four with deft punches aimed at the cores of the flames. I created the last one to be a real humdinger, and hurled it with a snarl of frustration. He began to turn his back on my attack and caught it as he did so. He then spun and threw it right back! I tried to move but he'd put a lot of power into the fireball, and it smacked me in the chest and winded me.

Actually: Winded is a bit of an understatement as it tore a fist-sized hole in my armour and knocked me to the ground. I staggered to my feet and pushed off so that I was floating. I soared so that I was level with my foe and stayed about fifty metres away.

"Had enough yet?" He laughed. I just snorted;

"I'm just getting warmed up…"

He pushed off from the ground and flew straight at me, but I dodged and delivered a punch to his back as he went past. He fell a few feet but regained control and came at me from underneath. I tried to dodge again, but this time I was too slow. His uppercut tore the helmet from my face, and then added to the pain I was already suffering by punching me in the stomach and chest. I blocked a fourth punch and kicked him in the head, causing him to fall further. However, he hurtled up and slammed into me again. I crumpled and fell to the earth. Ouch…

As I began to struggle to my feet, I saw him readying a miracle, so I threw up a small shield around myself. He pointed and bright blue lighting bolts seared from his fingers and scorched my shield. The shield held (barely) and I threw it off and countered with my own lightning. Instead of a flurry of small strikes; I threw a powerful, concentrated bolt that forced him to move fast. He swooped low and dropped a fireball down on me. I dismissed it with a wave of my hand and replied with yet another lightning strike that knocked him spinning into the ground before me.

"That was quite a hit…" He gasped, standing shakily. "…but not nearly enough to stop me!"

"Save it, Knylus. I've got plenty of strength and mana left; I _will _destroy you this time." was my reply.

"Unfortunately" rasped my nemesis "I have other matters to attend to. We will finish this later. Enjoy your little village while you can!"

He raised his hands above his head and there was a flicker of light; like a candle being blown in the wind. He disappeared like he had been snuffed out.

"Damnit…" I growled.


	2. Building and Blasting

**Building up**

It was now a week into the war. The season here was winter as we had found out the hard way. I had lost four villagers to the cold and the wolves had got another. As well as frustration at how easily these creatures died; I also felt pride (though I'd never admit it): They adapted well. They had turned their tents and shacks into crude 'longhouses' that were built into the ground and lined the insides of the walls with animal skins to keep out the cold. The buildings were all clustered together; around the village totem that rose majestically above the thick snow. The wooden cow had its arms raised, clutching my symbol bravely. It reminded me of how Ironhoof had died; bravely fighting the big lion that was commanded by Knylus. The death of my creature had hurt me more than I cared to admit; it had felt like my soul had been torn in half, and all of the worshippers at my temple had perished simultaneously as the lion sank his fangs into the bright young cow creature's throat. I now had nobody to rely on to guard my villagers and make sure their food and wood store was full. I had to both fight and care for my humans.

I was sat on the top of a snow-covered pine tree looking down on my town. We had just about got it together. There were currently five longhouses (each allowing ten people to live comfortably inside) and one large round building that contained a massive pile of wooden planks and the little food the humans had managed to hunt. There were a lot of trees around my settlement and I had made sure they had been cut down until I was sure that a forest fire would not reach my village. There were also wolves in the forest. Killing one was thought to bring good luck so my people had taken to wearing their skins as cloaks and their fangs on strings around their necks. I had put a few sheep through the portal and most of the females had been pregnant. Now we had a lot of sheep, but needed more before we could kill them for food. I had decided (against my instincts) to restrain myself and not attack until my village could fend for itself in my absence, when I went to attack the other settlements. Another reason I had not attacked yet was my temple; I had not put through enough scaffolds and wood to build the large structure, so I had been saving up for one. I gazed upon the structure as my people swarmed all over it: Putting in missing planks and the like. My village had grown slightly and I now had about fifty villagers to work with which helped. Although my temple and temper portrays me as an evil god, I am fair and even kind to my followers: fulfilling their desires and helping them expand. I get my evil side from my utter ruthlessness to my enemies. Anyway; there had been no attacks from Knylus. This meant one of two things: First, he had been taught a lesson and would not return for a while, or second: He was working on building his defences. Unfortunately; the second option was more likely.

The day after that; my temple was finished. It was different to the one in my previous land, I noticed. My old temples had been made of stone, adorned with spikes and tall, arched windows. This one had been built with the climate and building materials available in mind. It was squat, about twenty metres tall, with a domed roof and was made of wood, like the rest of my village. There were four long spikes extending from the base for about three metres flat along the ground, and another two at the front that resembled arms as they curved around the door. As the final plank was hammered into place, I felt my power growing and my fatigue receding. The Temple had little physical value to anyone, but it was the temple that drew on and stored power from the immaterium where all go after their deaths. Of course; if it is destroyed, there is little keeping the god who owns it tied to the world. Usually this spells the end for the said god, unless they have a temple elsewhere to which they can return. I had several, but this was the first in this world.

Now that my temple was complete; I could finally start the attack. I decided to start by cutting off Knylus' main food supplier: the farming village that was a few hundred metres to the west of the mountain. I walked casually through the knee-high grass that was still coated with frost from the night before and soon came to the snow-covered settlement. It was made up of around ten houses, including a food-store and village totem. I noticed, with disgust, that the statue atop the totem was a wild-looking lion with its paws raised in a victorious stance. That brought back unpleasant memories, which was bad for the village as I had planned to convert it peacefully.

"Villagers, this will be your only warning!" I yelled. I was wearing my armour (devoid of helmet) and my eyes were glowing like they could see into your soul (Which they could). "Renounce your belief in Knylus! Convert to me; the true god! I am Blitz! Hear me speak!"

There was a frightened murmuring from the crowd that assembled before me. I began to grow impatient, before a villager stepped forward. He was a big man but only stood shoulder high with me in this form. He had a shaggy beard (as was the custom with Norse villagers) and wore a bearskin tunic and boots.

"Knylus fulfils our desires and looks after us. If you attack; he will protect us."

"Wrong answer" I replied. I hit him so hard; he flew through the wall of a nearby house and the thatched roof caved in. The other twenty who had bothered to listen began to turn and run, but I calmly raised my hands and drew a complex symbol in the air. The massive white lightning bolts seared the air as they whipped from my outstretched arms, and the running humans screamed and tumbled to the cobblestone streets; burned and blackened. A couple of houses had caught fire in my initial lightning blast, so I decided to help the blaze along and cast a fireball extreme that sent the whole village ablaze.

…All except for the totem…

I approached it ominously, my steel-clad feet clinking against the rough cobblestone path. I sensed something and spun, in time to see a villager armed with a lumber axe running at me. He brought it down in an overhead swing, but I caught it and ripped it from his grasp, before (quite literally) knocking his block off with a single blow from my fist. The corpse fell to the ground.

As I reached the totem; I stood for a moment to admire the beauty in the destruction I had wrought. The orange flamed licked at the darkening purple sky and sparks danced as they fell. A multitude of such sparks appeared as a burning rafter fell from the ceiling of a house and knocked one wall down, before settling into stillness. There was no sound except for the crackle of flames. I turned and gazed at the column again. The fine stonework was impressive, indeed, but I had no time to admire it. I had to finish this village. I took a step back and focussed. Before my temple was completed; I had access to only my basic powers, but now I could use my more powerful miracles. I made a gesture with my right hand and drew a symbol in mid air with the left. I summoned up my inner reserves of strength and power, and raised my hands to the air. A beam of pure, blinding light split the sky and dropped like a stone to the ground. As it fell; I quickly pushed off from the street and ascended to a hundred metres and watched as the beam engulfed the lion statue and caused an explosion that obliterated the totem and the surrounding houses. When my retina had grown used to the absence of the light, I saw a charred circle where the centre of the village had been. I smiled a toothy grin; Megablast was a very useful miracle indeed. I did another, simpler symbol and the clouds around the burning village grew dark and heavy with rain. I then proceeded to watch as the rain extinguished the last of the flames. All that was left of the village were the cornfields (that had escaped remarkably unscathed), and the village storehouse; full to the brim with grain and good, sturdy wood. Apart from that; there were a couple of skeletal shells of houses on the right of the ruin which had been furthest away from the blaze.

I flew back to my village and approached the newly-built carpenter's house. This building was especially useful to me as I could precisely lay out entire villages by placing the scaffolds of houses where they were needed. I set to work, and (using telekinesis) took the scaffolds for a village totem and a few houses, flew them over to the now-cleared area behind the fields, and placed them down neatly. I assigned a few builders to set to work, threw up a shield around the site and then settled down in my temple to rest and regain energy lost from the powered-up miracles I had been using.

All in all, it had been a pretty good day…


	3. Belief and Beatings

I awoke feeling refreshed the next morning

**Belief and Beatings**

I awoke feeling refreshed the next morning. One of Knylus' towns was down, and I was building my own there. I was sitting on a stone throne draped with bearskins and the like, which was comfier than it sounds. Apart from the throne; there was little else in the room apart from the torches that lined the walls and threw a flickering light out as I woke. I stood and left the room, finding myself in a large round room that contained a miniature model of the island. I looked at it for a moment, admiring the little red glow that settled over my two villages, and then the blue light that covered the rest of the map. I decided to take the cliff top town now, as it would probably prove a key advantage in the war and would allow me a position from which to attack his capital. As I left the temple; I heard frightened cries from the village I was rebuilding. I flew overhead and found my shields under attack from Knylus. He was hovering above the transparent dome and firing a constant stream of lightning from his fingertips, which was causing the shield to flicker and shake.

"Knylus" I bellowed.

He turned and fired a second lightning bolt, which sent me flailing backwards a few metres, before I righted myself. I threw a hail of fireballs at him, which he countered by throwing a shield round himself. I soared towards him, as fast as I could, and hammered a punch into his spiritual shield. It shattered and he had to parry my next two blows with his forearms. A well-placed kick sent me flying back. Whilst on my back, falling, he raised his arms and a dark purple megablast fell from the sky and hammered into me. I hit the ground bloodied and scorched.

"Now you've asked for it…" I snarled, struggling to my feet. I was standing (rather shakily) in a cornfield that was swaying gently in the breeze, unaffected by the carnage. I pushed off from the ground and hurtled toward the speck that was Knylus, hanging in mid air, corn and grass whipped around wildly by the sudden air current. I felt the hot sun beating on my neck for the first time since I'd arrived. The snow was melting and my villagers were blinking in the sudden warmth. I smiled:

A new start…

I hurled a megablast at him, which hit but only a glancing. He threw one back but I was ready for this, and swooped to the right and watched as the explosion scorched an entire cornfield to ash. We exchanged megablasts and lightning strikes as we rose up to above the height of the mountain town. I suddenly dived forward and tackled him, sending Knylus spinning out of control into a house. He smashed through a wall and disappeared inside. I worked fast, focusing my energy into a more powerful attack, and then unleashed it as a massive column of fire that fell upon the house. The house and entire area for around three-hundred metres was burned in the ring of flame that rushed out from the initial explosion. I smiled; I was getting the hang of using megablast. I had only learned it a few weeks ago in the previous land, and already I was casting an increased version. The peaceful Tibetan village had been torn in half by my attack and converting the rest would be a breeze. But first I had something to do.

Striding over to the ruins of the scorched building, past the charred skeletons of its residents, I kicked a roof rafter off of the enemy god. He rolled onto his back and began to gather energy for a miracle. I punched him in the face, stunning him and dissipating the miracle he was about to use, before grabbing him by the collar and lifting him so we were face-to-face.

"I hope you've learned something, Knylus." I hissed into his blackened and broken face.

"I-I don't-" He spluttered. I punched him again, in the stomach this time.

"Don't bother attacking my villages. You are going to die very soon and this time I won't show any mercy. I won't make the same mistake again."

I carried him to the edge of the cliff, on the side facing his capital, and hurled him down. He bounced of the rock face repeatedly before disappearing in a cloud of dust at the bottom. I turned my back on him and looked back at the town. It was a medium strength one, with a totem in the middle and a boulevard of trees leading to a wonder (a large, Tibetan temple with the several roofs leading to a pointed one). There were thirteen houses remaining (out of the thirty before my attack), and most of the villagers were out of their houses, staring at me fearfully. One of the women stepped forward, wearing the traditional orange dress that was common with Tibetan women.

"Please; sire" she whispered "Do not kill us like those in the farming town below!"

I looked at her coldly.

"It all depends" I said thoughtfully "on whether you join me."

A second villager, a man in orange robes, stepped up and said, boldly;

"What can you offer us if we join your empire?"

Now normally, I would've started massacring by now, but I sensed I was getting somewhere, and anyway: Tibetans were hard to convert but doggedly loyal to their god. I could use that kind of belief to give me power. Also, if a god's miracles were like the sun, Tibetan wonders were a sort of magnifying glass; they amplified the power of all miracles greatly: even more than other wonders.

"If you join me, your only duty will be to pray and build. You will have your freedom for the rest of the time."

The villagers began to whisper amongst themselves, but it didn't look good: They kept shaking their heads and glancing at me. It is unusual to be looked down upon when you are used to looking down on others, but theses Tibetans had an air of authority to rival even mine!

The man stepped forward once more and sighed.

"We are afraid we cannot-" He began. There was a sudden crackle of energy on a massive scale around the town.

"What the-" I gasped. Knylus was hovering beside the mountain. He was battered, bloodied and scorched, but evidently still had enough energy left to fight.

"Oh give it up, Knylus!" I sighed.

"NO!" He screeched. "I will not allow this town to fall into enemy hands!"

Knylus raised his hands and the clouds above began to darken and swirl around in a strange formation. A dark megablast fell from the dark clouds and caved in the roof of the Wonder. It then exploded and blew out the walls, showering the village with bits of wood. I threw a shield over what was left of the village, and its people, and just held. Megablasts rained down and decimated what was left of it. The very air seemed to be burning as the smoke blocked out the sky. I could only shield the few Tibetans remaining and wince as the town was burned down.

Eventually, the onslaught stopped. There was nothing left of the peaceful town, except the villagers. Remarkably; I had shielded the crowd I had been converting and saved them all. The entire village was rubble but I had saved the people, so technically the village was still standing. We could rebuild! I approached the people but they simply knelt before me and bowed their heads.

"Our lord" one said "Thank you for saving us…"

Taking that as their submission to my rule, I said:

"Right-ho. You'd better get to work and get this village built up again."

The group nodded and began to clear the rubble to make way for a new village. I suddenly realised that Knylus could have stopped attacking so that I would lower the shield. I froze and looked about, but I saw and sensed nothing in the area. I threw a new shield around the building site, anyway, and leapt from the lip of the mountain; to the farming town to check progress.

Although the shield had collapsed, the town itself was intact. I saw that there were around seven houses now, along with a village totem (complete with cow) and a food and wood store. I also saw that there were several rough wooden scaffolds set up and beside these were a few villagers with tools sat around chatting. I landed beside them and caused the ground to shake slightly and the wind to change direction (what can I say; I'm rather vain when it comes to making an impression).

"What are you doing?!" I roared "You have work to do! You'd better have a good explanation for slacking!"

"P-please sir…" One younger villager said, hoarsely "there is no wood left in the village storehouse!"

I straightened slightly and the menacing aura around me dissipated like steam on the wind. The villagers relaxed slightly, until I suddenly struck out; grabbing a villager near the back of the group of six. I picked him up and strained; ripping him in two. The top and bottom halves fell to the ground in a mist of blood and by the expressions of shock and fear on the faces of my villagers; I had got the reaction I wanted.

"Did you not think to cut down trees and make some planks?" I snarled. I must've looked terrifying: A tall, armoured figure adorned with spikes and with blood coating his arms from the hands to the elbows. I watched them cower away from me. A few other villagers who had been watching from other areas of the town hurried away inside or behind houses.

"Please lord; we are sorry!" The small one squealed. I stopped advancing on them and stood still. They all stared; unsure of what to expect.

"Just…." I sighed "Just learn from this. Next time; I will kill you all…"

I flew up to around head height and saw that only a couple of the corn fields were being worked by my villagers. The rest sat unused.

"And I want those fields to be farmed! We need food in the other villages!" I growled.

I felt my bloodlust and anger lessen and finally go as I flew back to my original, beachhead town. The town was doing well. The plentiful supply of wood and the successful animal breeding had provided it with a good amount of wood and food, and that meant we had ample supplies of most things. No longer was the bare minimum all that was available. Now new buildings were springing up; there was a Tavern and a children's Crèche near the centre of town. I was impressed at how my people were doing, but too tired to do much in the way of congratulations. I landed before my temple and entered; limbs heavy with fatigue.

**Phew; long chapter! Hopefully I'll update soon!**** Thank you loyal readers! I'm thinking of adding a new character in soon. It will be a god so send me his/her details (appearance, preferred god powers, personality and alignment) and I'll pick a winner.**


	4. Believing and Bugger

Again; I awoke from my slumber and left the temple

**Believing and Bugger**

Again; I awoke from my slumber and left the temple. Although gods do not need sleep, I find it helps me focus and contain all my energy, so that I am ready for the battles to come. The belief of my followers is enough to power my miracles but not quite enough to sustain my fatigue. However; I awoke this one morning feeling very energetic. For a moment I pondered as to why, but then I remembered my Tibetan followers; the mystical humans would greatly help the war effort. I decided to check on my capital, before the day's attacks, and left the mighty temple. My capital, as I had mentioned in my previous chapter, was getting quite big. I smiled as I saw the children running around their crèche; they were the future of the village. They would be the next lot of colonists when I discovered new lands. They looked so innocent in their little fur tunics and coats that it saddened me to think of the bloodshed and death they would experience in just a few years time. Let them play, I thought, they deserve to be ignorant of this war for a while longer. Moving on from the little schoolhouse and playground, I passed the food store and half a dozen houses, before I came to a strange building. It was like a large miracle dispenser, but had a house built into it. There was a balcony just below the rim of the bowl shaped top, and the tripod legs had windows and doors built into it.

"Hello…" I muttered. This hadn't been there the day before. I shimmered into my human form (usually I sleep in my symbolic form, as it provides more comfort. It is not visible to most humans, however) and gazed up at it, ignoring the four villagers who dropped what they were doing and fell to their knees around me.

The door on the balcony above me creaked open and a very old man emerged. I quickly transformed back into my symbol form (my symbol, a sort of Star Shape, surrounded by blue light) and hovered to above the height of the miracle dispenser/house, but to my surprise, the man's eyes followed me as though I was clear as day.

"Do not be alarmed, holy one, I am an ally." He croaked, suddenly. His voice sounded like a sword being scraped against metal.

"Who are you, to come into my village and set up your house (not that it's a bad house, I rather like it) overnight!?" I asked, menacingly, transforming into my human form yet again. The man just chuckled and said:

"I am here to give you a miracle. What miracle I do grant you with will be decided depending on your behaviour. I have two available."

I sighed.

"Very well, you may live here. Please call me when you are ready."

I had decided to be nice to this man. If he could see me, and had the guts to stand up to me, then there was something strange that set him apart from the other villagers. I wanted to figure him out; I didn't like things that I could not understand but I liked puzzles and this was a puzzle. I left the grey-fur clad man and flew over the remainder of the town in my human form. There was one last building that caught my interest and I swooped low. It was a low, stone building. It looked like a house merged with some kind of exercise gym. In the yard outside it was a small archery range. Two or three men and one woman were firing arrows at the yellow and red targets. As I landed, the group turned and bowed, except for the woman. She marched up to me and gave a military-style salute.

"Welcome, Holy one! This is the Barracks of your capital. I hope everything is to your liking. I am General Alexandra."

I nodded respectfully, but I couldn't help a childish grin breaking out across my face. Finally! I could train troops to take on the enemy directly!

"How many soldiers are trained currently?"

She considered for a moment.

"We only opened a few days ago, so we only have two six-man squads of hoplites and a squad of archers."

I saluted and she suddenly fell to her knees.

"What is the matter, woman? We are both beings of war, so I can respect you in a way that I cannot the other villagers." I laughed "Stand up. I want to move out the soldiers available right away."

I liked my hoplites. Even though they were beginning to look slightly Norse, my village still remembered its Greek routes.

In a few minutes, there were two small phalanxes of hoplites standing before me, round shields in their left hand, long spears in their right. Behind them was a thin line of men and women in baggy leather armour and carrying short, curved bows. I noticed that all of my troops, though still wearing Greek-style armour, had adopted the fur cloaks that my villagers seemed to like.

"You are few in number" I said "yet you worship the true god; Blitz!"

The soldiers all cheered, some raised their weapons.

"Follow me to victory. We shall remove the false god, Knylus!"

Another cheer; this one sounded more enthusiastic. I arranged the troops into a column and ordered six villagers to follow in, too. The General stayed behind, and agreed to train more troops to boulster my numbers. As I lead the army from my capital, towards my farming town, I suddenly felt a surge of power; a powerful miracle had just been used…

Leaving my troops to trudge on through the fields of corn, I flew up to get a birds-eye view of what was happening. I swallowed as I saw what was happening:  
Knylus was hovering in mid air, like me, and below, little more than 500 metres from the farming town, was a graveyard. As I watched, Knylus raised a fist; and several corpses, bleached bone showing through pale flesh, burst through the gates of the little burial ground. I had seen this miracle used before. Knylus was a clever git. He liked to summon corpses and wild animals to fight until my forces were weakened enough, and then send in his real army. The zombies were small in number (no more than fifteen) but I knew what would happen when they attacked.

"No you don't!" I growled. I raised my arms and sent a Megablast tumbling down towards the shuffling rabble. The explosion wiped them out, but alerted Knylus to my presence. I saw him hurl his own Megablast at me, and I could barely dodge it. As it was, the miracle clipped my shoulder and smashed me to the ground. I rose and threw a massive fireball at him, but he just laughed and destroyed it with a second Megablast. He seemed to have a lot of energy, suddenly. I didn't know how, but he had fully recovered from the recent battle, and was using powerful miracles consecutively. I noticed that my armour on the left side was scorched and, in places, torn. This was worrying. The armour was like the equivalent of casting the most powerful shield I could muster around myself. If it was damaged, then that had been a very powerful miracle indeed.

"Come down here and fight!" I shouted. My arch-nemesis simply laughed again.

"There will be fighting abound in a moment." He hissed. I watched as three house-sized bubbles, which resembled miracle-seeds, hovered around him the surfaces were opaque, but they descended to the ground nearby and dissipated; revealing a large number of red-clad samurai (Knylus' specialist troops). Out of each bubble marched nine samurai warriors. Knylus landed next to the soldiers.

"Destroy him!" was his order, as he gestured towards me. The first nine drew katanas and sprinted at me, screaming battle cries. Battered though I was, I focused my energies and channelled them out in an 'extreme lightning'. This was like the lightning bolts I cast normally but bigger, better and more helpful because if it hit something, it would jump to anything else nearby. I watched as the first 'squad' crumpled, crackling with energy and screaming death screams as a contrast to their battle cries five seconds ago. I laughed: Humans were no match for me and I found their little attack quite humorous.

"Got anything else for me to kill?" I asked sarcastically. I suddenly saw what Knylus had been doing whilst I was killing samurai; He had been preparing something big. Knylus was on one knee, drawing a symbol in the air with a forefinger. I began to cast a Megablast, but he had already finished his miracle. He had chosen the location of this battle well. Directly behind his men and him was a thick pine forest. As he raised his arms to the void (or the heavens as the mortals call it), there was a rustling, panting, crashing and snapping, and wolves burst from the treeline: Thirty great, shaggy beasts with glowing green eyes and frantic snapping jaws. At the same time, a fourth 'transport bubble' teleported in behind the god, and around the same number of zombies staggered out. At that moment, as if things couldn't get worse, the remaining two squads of samurai drew katanas and charged.

_And so, I did look__ on at the charging force of Japanese warriors, beasts and un-dead and I did say unto myself;_

"_Bugger."_

**Well that was chapter four. I hope you enjoyed it. Please, Please, Please review it! I live for reviews! **


	5. Brothers and Battles

As the hoarde of enemy warriors and beasts charged me, I heard a valiant cry behind me

**Brothers and Battles**

As the hoarde of enemy warriors and beasts charged me, I heard a valiant cry behind me. The small force of Greek soldiers that I had brought with me rallied to my side and formed a single Phalanx. There was a moment's pause, and then a volley of arrows struck the lead wolves, which were bounding ahead of the rest and slavering. Most died and the rest were wounded. I shot a lightning extreme and killed almost all of the remaining wolves, but there was still the rest of the attack to worry about. The archers fired again, but the zombies (although weak) did not feel pain, so only a couple were felled by that volley. I saw the samurai slow and begin to advance behind the undead, using them as a meat shield. They were barely five metres from my spear-line, when I heard the screeching whinny of horses and the thunder of hooves. I half-turned and saw around 30 men on horseback charge from the right, around the base of the mountain. They all had shaggy beards and hair, and wore fur cloaks, round shields and heavy armor. They carried three throwing spears each (in a pouch on the saddle) and a sword sheathed at their sides. As they approached the hesitating enemy, they formed a single line and hurled their spears, killing many. The heavy shafts knocked even the zombies off their feet. All the while, they kept moving so that the swords of the humans and the grabbing hands of the zombies could not get them. Within a few moments, the zombies were all dead (the riders targeted them mainly) and the remaining squad of samurai turned and fled. I saw the expression on Knylus' face turn to one of horror and rage.

"What!?" he screeched "I lost!? TURN AND FIGHT YOU COWARDS!"

The fleeing samurai troops passed him and fled into the forest. With a roar of anger, he raised his arms and used the fireball extreme incantation. 12 fireballs dropped from the sky and within a minute, the forest was ablaze.

"Those cowards!" he hissed. Then he turned to me: "You dare to attack my raiding force!? For this, you _will _die!"

"Makes a change…" said a deep voice behind me. I turned and saw a familiar figure stride from my town and stand beside me.

"Randulfr!?" I laughed, in amazement. "I thought you were going to remain in your realm after I helped you defeat Knylus there."

The god that had saved me simply smiled behind his shaggy brown beard. He had brown hair, green/brown eyes and a nose that looked like it had been broken a long time ago. His armor was a brown-green chain-mail affair with a thick fur cape that made him look bulkier that he already was. His thick boots caused massive footprints in the muddy snow below us. He was followed by a group of 20 Norse warriors, armed with wooden spears, round shields, axes and swords. The two small armies acknowledged each-other and stood to attention before their gods.

"You again!?" our enemy growled. "You want to die too?"

"Actually I am here to speak with Blitz, not you." The big god said, softly "So why not toddle off; the grown-ups are talking."

"Your insolence will be your death! I will go and prepare my army. When I attack, I'll sweep you all away like-" began Knylus. I snapped then and there, hurling a Megablast at him that destroyed the edge of the burning forest and caused him to yelp and flee through the air back to his capital city. I turned back to Randulfr and grinned.

"Good to see you again, old comrade."

We watched from my mountaintop town as the Norse and Greeks assembled and began to set up a camp for the night. They had pitched twenty domed white tents, insulating them with furs and lighting fires for the night. I thought of the last time I had seen the Norse god: It had been during my war on Randulfr's home realm. He and I had pushed the enemy solders right back to Knylus' temple:

_The mountain road ended in a tall, red and black temple. The marble seemed to draw in light and warp it, and this, coupled with the dozens of hooked spikes that protruded from the walls, made for an imposing sight. With Randulfr at my side, I bounded up the road and onto the hapless defenders who were forming skirmish lines to protect the arched entrance. Behind us, raiding cavalry and hoplites joined the charge, and soon all was chaos; there were no lines or formations, just soldiers hacking at each other all around me. An enemy hoplite thrust a spear at me from the right, but I seized it and caved in the man's skull with a punch. I saw Randulfr pick up two enemy soldiers and hurl them onto the spikes above us._

"_Where is he!?" I screamed above the din of fighting. The enemy were loosing but still fighting on to the last. We killed another three as we approached the temple door. It was closed and probably barred from the inside. I also sensed a powerful shield around it._

"_Let's get this open!" I said to Randulfr. He nodded and we both fired Lightning Extreme, and the electricity crackled and hissed angrily at the shield. It flickered but stayed intact. We both attacked again and this time, it almost went out. One more lightning bolt each and the glow on the door sizzled to nothing. Randulfr charged the door and caved it in with one blow._

_Inside, hoplites cowered away from us, but e showed no mercy; slaughtering the squad and heading down a door that had banged shut as we had entered. It led down to a massive room, like the creature cave but bigger. Inside was a huge spinning vortex, and around the lip of the vortex was everything needed to colonize another island; Piles of food, wood, dozens of scaffolds and a lot of Greek, Japanese and Tibetan villagers in cages. As we entered, Knylus was hovering above the center of the portal. He raised his arms and everything around the outside of the vortex was sucked in, disappearing as though they had been dropped in a deep whirlpool in the sea. He soon followed. The two of us stood for a moment, and then I began to run towards the portal. I stopped suddenly, and half turned._

"_Randulfr?" I asked "You're not coming?"_

"_I cannot; my people in this land need me too help rebuild. I am sorry, ally." He sighed._

"_I can't do this alone, and I take back what I said about you not being as powerful as me because you're not evil: In fact you're every bit my equal!" I said desperately. He laughed; a deep boom that bounced off the walls of the teleport room and was amplified by the spinning vortex._

"_Don't worry; there is no doubt at your power. What I said was true; I just want to live peacefully and rebuild. If you wish; I will allow your capital to continue worshipping you. You will always be welcome here if anything goes wrong."_

"_Thank you, Randulfr." I said, after a moment's silence. The big god summoned a transport bubble and revealed the ten villagers, scaffolds and resources inside._

"_Take it and go through." He said. I turned with my new Norse villagers and went through._

That land through the portal had been a snowy realm, similar to this one, and the campaign there had been short: I had set up a base, captured two Greek villages, destroyed his temple and followed him through the portal beneath, which led to this world.

I turned and spoke to my ally:

"Why did you change your mind?"

"Well; A few weeks after we destroyed his temple; I had done everything I could to convert his towns back to my own, and rebuild the damage wreaked by the war. Suddenly thought; you fought a war alongside me and I had done nothing to repay you. So, as you did with me, I fight alongside you in your war."

"A debt?" I exclaimed. "But ally-"

"Even after this is over, I am not just an ally; we are brothers in arms, and friends. Together we shall finish Knylus." He boomed. "But I must leave; I have to finish my temple and capital city in this realm or I shall be of little help."

I nodded, and he turned and soared over to the mountain pass, to the east. I thought to myself (though I'd never admit it); it was good to have a friend, and I needed one in this war.

**So: Enter Randulfr! If you wanna be in the story, or indeed any of my Black and White stories in the future, REVIEW THIS STORY!!**

**But I hope you enjoyed this slightly shorter chapter…**


	6. BOOM!

The evening after Randulfr's arrival, I had discovered a small town hidden behind the mountain with the Tibetan mountain

The evening after Randulfr's arrival, I had discovered a small town hidden behind the mountain with the Tibetan mountain. It had only a village store, a village totem and three medium sized houses, so it should've been easy to capture. Unfortunately, Knylus had a strange obsession with it that he didn't have with even his capital (just to the north of this village), and had thrown powerful shields around it. Something was going on inside, but I couldn't see what.

As I returned from a day spent attempting to destroy the shield, I met Randulfr by the entrance to the valley that I had planned on colonising when I had first arrived. He had built a temple, a great wooden thing similar to mine, and two small villages (of similar size to the one belonging to Knylus I just told you about) in there, and was preparing resources for a third, out in the open plains to the east of my mountaintop town. He was concentrating on the village store closest to the valley mouth, and as I watched, light flowed from his big hands and converged on a point above the storehouse. From that focal point, grain began to pour freely and soon the storehouse was full of food. I noticed that there were ten or so hungry-looking villagers sitting around outside, and they all ran inside to get food when there was some available. His village seemed to be entirely happy, as there were no desire flags on the poles above the store. Desire flags are an efficient way for villagers to tell their god what they want: for example, when hungry, the villagers will raise the flag with a picture of a stickman pointing to his mouth. If there is a child desire, the flag with a heart on it is raised. In my towns, there are usually two or three desires at a time. I don't really care about these (my people can fend for themselves mostly), but if the desire for food or wood becomes too drastic (i.e. the store is empty) I do what I can.

"Going soft?" I chuckled. Randulfr turned and saw me standing there in the thin snow.

"What can I say; happy villagers mean more work gets done." He replied, sounding tired. We walked out of the pass, and onto the plains. Even here, the snow was not as thick as it had been. I guessed spring was arriving. We stopped before an area that Randulfr had cleared with fireballs, to make way for his future village.

In the middle of the rough circle stood a massive wolf creature. His shaggy fur was a light grey colour, flecked with bright white patches, and he had Randulfr's symbol (a curved fang) tattooed on his torso. Randulfr's creature stood was almost fully grown; about the height of my temple, and as I watched, it raised its grey muzzle to the moon and howled: A bellowing challenge that echoed off the mountains around us. Randulfr leapt up to its shoulder and scratched its neck.

"How was the day?" I asked him. Randulfr thought for a moment, then said;

"Not bad; watered your crops and filled your store in the farming town." He said "Pretty uneventful."

"Cool. I found a hidden town, but it was shielded." I said. He thought for a moment.

"We should attack tonight. Together we could break the shield and take the town. If it refuses to join us; we slaughter the population and re-colonise it with our own people."

"I think we have a plan." I grinned.

A few hours later, the two of us approached from the east of the shield bubble that was half-in the mountain.

"How are we going to do this?" I asked.

"Megablast?" He asked. I considered for a minute. If it worked, we could take the town quickly and then defend it before he arrived. If it didn't, then he would show up and…

"What the hell, let's do this." I sighed. We both concentrated our energies into destruction and let fly, causing a collective hail of ten megablasts to hit the bubble. It flickered, fizzed and then burst with a supersonic bang. We both acted instinctively: I cast a lightning bolt that severely wounded almost all of the small population, but before they could die, Randulfr used a powerful healing miracle and they all stood up, blinking and confused as to whether they were dead or alive. When they saw Randulfr, their savour, the people began to shout about a new god. Randulfr's fang symbol appeared above the village totem and the lion that held it cracked and deformed until it was a wolf.

"How dare you!?" The voice of Knylus screamed. "Ah well: Though it annoys me, that village matters little to me. However, I will still not allow you to control it and risk finding out what I was working on there!"

There was a couple of seconds of silence, then the black, starless sky was split as megablasts and fireballs rained down, at rapid-fire speed. There was a great earthquake as the town was bombarded and destroyed in a matter of seconds. We both shielded ourselves until the massacre was over, and then had a quick look around the debris.

"Look at this!" I muttered. I had found a strange object in the ruins of the biggest building in town. It was a rock, but had the symbol of Knylus burned into it. As we watched; it pulsated with power like a living thing.

"Wait…This thing is probably part of his power! I can feel energy flowing from it constantly…" Randulfr muttered. I stood, and backed away to a safe distance. From there, we both combined our energy into a single, powered-up Megablast. It hit the rock and there was a loud, bright explosion. When the light cleared, a part of the Creed I sought was floating above the cracked pieces of the stone. The Creed is an ultimate power that is said to grant the one who combines three elements of it the power to conquer all other gods with ease. The reason Knylus was so powerful was because he already possessed his own creed. This was a piece that I had found a while ago but was stolen by his creature. It looked like a glowing lightning bolt that pulsed when touched.

"This is why his destructive miracles are so powerful! He's not content with one creed; he was trying to get a second one. This is the creed piece of destruction. It greatly increases the power of destructive miracles." I exclaimed.

"That means you have two pieces of the creed!" blurted Randulfr. I took the creed in my plate-mail gloved hands and carried it gently in front of me. I took off and flew back to my spiked, wooden temple. Inside was the map of the island, but I ran straight past it, through a door hidden behind a tapestry. Inside was an altar made of three iron hands raised from the floor. Hovering above it was a glowing heart inside a ball of light. I placed the shimmering lightning bolt beside it. If I got one more creed, I could sweep away Knylus easily. One more creed to go…

Outside, it was starting to get light: Day and night passed quickly in this land. Randulfr was waiting for me beside my temple.

"Are you ready to attack, Blitz?" He asked. I nodded; eager to get this war over with and finish Knylus.

"Let's go" I said. We both leapt through the sky and landed on top of my Tibetan mountain. I felt energised and realised that the rebuilding of the wonder was almost done: Just the final roof to go (it was made up of several slanted roofs). Below us was the mountain pass that led to Knylus' capital city, and his temple. There was one problem; a thick wall and a huge pair of gates blocked off the pass. I sensed a shield miracle had been imbued into the stones they were made of.

"We'll need help to get through there." Randulfr commented, gazing at the defences.

"Our armies… Together, they could use siege weapons to weaken this." I muttered.

"Excellent, take control of my troops and move them in from the east, I'll get my creature and attack from the west." My ally exclaimed.

It was getting light. Randulfr and his creature were content to distract the defenders (mainly Aztec warriors and archers) by hurling fireballs and lightning bolts at their walls, so I began to prepare the siege weapons for an attack. Randulfr had brought two Trebuchets and four Ballistae with him and I organised them into good firing positions: Two Ballistae and one Trebuchet on top of the cliffs by my Tibetan city and the rest down below on the plains. Ballista spears and Trebuchet stones crashed into the walls but just bounced off again. I sensed the soldiers were becoming bored with sitting around, but there was nothing I could do to help until the gates fell. The miracles cast by Randulfr and his Wolf creature had a similar effect; scorching the gates and killing men on the ramparts, but not doing any serious damage. Knylus had thought his defence through thoroughly and it was effective. By nightfall that day, I was getting angry. I had to come up with another plan, and I already had one…

"CHARGE!!" I screamed. My hoplites and archers swarmed across the plains towards the walled entrance, shields raised. Arrows thudded down into them, and almost a dozen fell to the grassy earth: never to rise again. I didn't like the idea of throwing troops at it, but there was no other way to get the ladders to the walls. I only had twenty soldiers left (oh and around thirty Norse warriors), but they had got to the wall.

"Ladders up!" I ordered. I was among them; shielding who I could and covering us with fireballs. Beside me, two more were cut down by arrows and I caught the ladder they had been carrying as they fell. It had a grappling hook on a rope, which I threw to the top, and then hoisted the ladder into a ready position. As the ladders rose, the Norse charged, too. They streamed across the plains with their fur capes billowing behind them and glinting swords bared to the sunlight. It was a cold sun, though; as though the heat couldn't penetrate the icy atmosphere. As they reached the ladders, my make-shift 'shock troops' scaled them fast and leapt up to the walls. I was there too. I watched as the slaughter began; Aztec archers screamed as they were butchered by the combined Norse and Greek troops. I saw the wolf and Randulfr join the charge and leap onto the walls. Now undefended (for the most part), they could land safely and attack properly. With a howl, Wolf picked up a man and crushed him in a paw. I heard his ribs cave in and his final gurgling rattle of a scream. Beside me, I saw four men on my side gasp and die, peppered with arrows. Beyond them was a last desperate group of five archers, defending the stairs on the inside of the gate. I ran full pelt towards them and ripped them apart with my bare hands and leaving blood spattered across the walkway. Below, I saw Knylus' massive, sprawling city. It had to house at least two hundred villagers in the hundred or more square, Aztec buildings. From the city poured a wave of Aztec warriors, feathered headdresses raised to the sky and their curious club-like swords drawn.

"Fire!" I ordered. My remaining archers let loose a volley of arrows, whilst Randulfr, his creature and I all hurled fireballs. Collectively, we wiped out the counterattack, and the survivors who tried to flee found out how hard it was to walk once blown apart by a megablast. We fought on, and entered the city. Beside me, Randulfr joined the charge. Behind me was my army, spread out and pouring from the stairs. We killed all who got in our way, villagers and troops. A group ambushed me from an alleyway: six swordsmen hacked at me. I grabbed one sword, pulled its owner close and used him as a shield from the other blows that rained down. I then set him alight and threw him into two others who fell screaming. The final two dropped their swords and raised their hands in surrender but I killed them with a bright flash of lightning. I saw a figure ahead of us, dark and evil.

"There he is!" I yelled. Randulfr and I both threw fireballs at him, but he just swatted both away and raised his hands. A ball of purple light formed above the city. Knylus' smile was one of bitter victory.

"I will kill you all. I have some survivors near my temple, we can rebuild. It doesn't matter if this gets destroyed." He blurted. I almost felt sorry for him; all that power he wielded was coming to nothing as we got closer and closer to destroying him. It had driven him mad. I was still puzzling about this when the biggest shadow-megablast I had ever seen dropped from the ball of purple light.

"Blitz!" Randulfr yelled. "Look out!"

I tried to move but it was so fast it would get to me before I could push off from the ground. I saw a shape speed in front of it and gasped:

"RANDULFR!" I howled. The explosion that hit him was massive and he crashed into the floor nearby, setting several houses on fire. All around me was chaos as sword clashed on shield and houses collapsed.

"Randulfr: NO!!" I shouted again. I was kneeling beside him, and I observed the great rent in the front of his armour Blood spattered the ground all around us and his eyes were closed. However there was still a flicker of life, a whisper of his essence left in him. A god can only recover from this type of wound by the unwavering belief of his or her followers. I saw the massive shaggy wolf approach from the right and whimper as he saw his dying master.

"Blitz…take…this…amulet…" He gasped, suddenly. I turned back to my friend and saw him holding an old wooden charm on a chain in his hands. It had a crack running through the middle of it. I took it in my hands and felt the greatest feeling of my life, suddenly:

Power.

I realised what this was; the last part of the creed! It was the fragment of the creed of protection. I now had Destruction, Healing and Protection in my grasp.

"I'm sorry I didn't entrust you with it before." He muttered, sinking back into his coma-like-state.

"Take him back to the temple" I instructed his creature sternly "then raise _all _of the totems in the villages. You need _everyone _to pray for him to heal."

The wolf barked to show his understanding, gently picked up the injured god and bounded back across the field of corpses. I turned, crackling with power. I could feel the ultimate power building up inside me. Now that I had a full creed I could finally best Knylus and destroy him. After the explosion, he had fled to his hellish temple on the hill in the centre of his city. I set off in pursuit.

**Will Randulfr survive? Will Blitz finally destroy his foe? Find out next time….**


	7. Beat That Boss!

The twenty dead soldiers lay all around me

"Foolish humans…" I growled. The twenty dead soldiers lay strewn all around me. Their blood coated my scarred armour and body, and was spattered across the entrance to the temple. There was only one foe left for me to defeat. I walked slowly across the courtyard to the tall, spiked spire. Behind me, the city burned and people died. My troops could do what they wanted with the population; I didn't care. For a moment I considered Megablasting the temple, but he probably had a shield around it. Anyway, I wanted him to suffer for what he'd done to me: I would kill him personally. I had a strange sense of Deja-vous as I kicked open the doors, but no soldiers were there.

The temple was as silent as the grave, and I entered cautiously.

"Hello Blitz." A voice hissed. He stood with his back to me facing the island map on the floor. I aimed an extreme lightning at him but he anticipated my move and somersaulted over me. I turned and tried to punch him, but he blocked by fist and head butted me, breaking my nose. Blood spattered the front of my armour, joining the human blood already there. Knylus pushed me back into the far wall and raised his hands, calling energy into them. A black lightning bolt blew chunks out of the wall where I was standing, but I had already gone. I landed beside him and hit him in the kidneys. As he staggered, I got him in the side of the head and blasted him with a lightning bolt. He lashed out with a foot and I fell through a side-door labelled 'creature cave'. Inside was a small grassy area with fluffy green trees and a gurgling stream. The lighting here made a twilight effect, and I paused to admire it for a second before turning to face the door. Knylus leapt through and sent a flash of black fire to scorch the ground around me. I dodged this and returned fire with another lightning bolt which he caught and hurled back.

"Damnit!" I gasped, as it hit me in the stomach. I couldn't fight in such cramped conditions. I leapt up and imbued myself with a powerful shield. I burst through the earth and came out slightly to the left of my enemy's temple. Slates and cobbles slid into the massive hole I had made, as Knylus flew out. We had a short mid-air fight, trading punches, but that ended when I grappled with him and threw him into his own temple. Far, far below us, the gates to the temple compound (I had just vaulted them) burst open and my men began to pour through.

"Look at that, Knylus. Your end is near. Why fight? Just embrace it." I hissed.

"No!" He wailed, hurling a megablast at me. I shrugged off the resulting explosion as though he'd thrown a bucket of water at me. In reply, I cast a lightning extreme, which wrapped itself around him as though alive. He screamed in pain as the lightning bolt scorched him and knocked him flying. There was a little flash of light as he struck his shielded temple wall, and fell to the ground. My men were running towards him, but I yelled:

"NO! This one is mine!"

As he attempted to rise, I kicked him in the kidneys and he fell again. I grabbed him by the neck and lifted him above my head. From that position, he could see his burning city: The flames and billowing smoke, the corpses strewn around the streets. I wanted him to know that his empire was crumbling before I finished this.

"After all this…" I rasped, a stitch burning into my side. "…you finally die. How does it feel?"

"I am…invincible…" he hissed "I cannot…die…"

"Hah hah hah…" I chuckled. My men assembled behind me and stood to attention. I turned to them and spoke, loudly.

"Signal the withdrawal from the city. It's time to finish this…"

They all saluted and streamed through the gate. I had a cruel and twisted idea, and I decided to act upon it. I carried Knylus calmly towards his temple and hoisted him up. There was a sickening crunch as the hated one was impaled on one of his own temple's spikes. His face was contorted in pain and hatred as I smiled up at him.

"You're going to die now." I stated, simply. Now, most temples have a spell that diverts most damage to the god's nearest town. I was going to take advantage of this. I raised my arms and fired an Extreme Lightning spell at the impaled god, both injuring him and his temple, and diverting damage to his city. I saw pale tendrils of light drifting from his home to the Aztec town below, and houses began to catch alight. He screamed and attempted to rise, but I kept pouring lightning into him. He slumped, unconscious as his city burned. I stopped using lightning and instead let rip a volley of fireballs that set the structure alight and damaged the city further. I sensed that the protective spell on the temple was almost spent, because it was beginning to take serious damage. I finally raised my arms and called down a megablast to finish it off. The column of flame cut through the roof like a hot knife through butter, and detonated inside. The whole temple pulsed once, like an animal in pain, and then exploded outwards. Further explosions ripped the innards of the temple out, and destroyed the underground sections of it.

I dodged a chunk of stone the size of a house that fell from the explosion, and took off. I felt cold hatred welling up inside of me as I watched the temple detonate. I focused the last of my energy, and all of my hatred of Knylus and then let rip with a megablast. However, no single megablast fell. Instead, the clouds darkened, and dozens rained upon his stricken city and destroyed the remainder of it in a flurry of blasts. I realised that using a Megablast Extreme was not a clever thing to do in my condition, and blacked out: the ground rushing up to meet me…

It took me a week to recover from the ordeal of killing my foe. All through my recovery, I watched with admiration from my bedroom window as black smoke billowed from the horizon and didn't stop for at least a fortnight. Wounds knitted themselves together and my nose was fixed (except for a red scar running across it from my forehead to my cheek). On the day of my recovery, I left my temple and allowed my villagers to celebrate: No work for a few days, and no rationing from the food store. I then went to check on my ally.

"Randulfr!?" I called, from my Tibetan town. At first I thought he was dead, and that the worst had happened. Then I saw him. He limped from his small valley-mouth town and leapt up to join me. We embraced like the battle-brothers we were then I stood back and looked at him. His orange armour was gone and he wore simple leather with fur rims.

"Where's the armour?" I asked to break the silence.

"It was almost ripped to pieces in that explosion. I'm having it fixed."

"Okay…" I muttered. "Why did you stop that megablast? You could have beaten him on your own. Why save me?"

"We're brothers now. Family have to look out for each other." He smiled "besides, you need the training if you ever want to best me."

I laughed and punched him in the chest jokingly.

"Anyway, we have a surprise for you…" Randulfr smiled.

"Who're 'we'?"

"That old man in the strange house; the one in your town."

"Oh. I forgot about him. He has something for me?"

"Indeed he does."

I flew back to my capital. By now it was thriving. The snows of winter were melting and the grass was showing, bright green and lush. Crops were doing well, and the population was booming. If I ever needed a reason to stay here after killing Knylus, this was it. I landed next to the house, and approached the three-legged stool-like structure.

"You fought well to overcome your enemy." A voice said. I looked around and saw the old man looking at me with his piercing blue eyes.

"I had something worth fighting for." I said. "My people and my revenge."

"Ah yes: Revenge. Your creature was killed, was he not?"

"Yes." I said. I didn't want the day to be ruined by thoughts of my dead creature. He smiled and turned to his house. In the middle of the three legs, a speck of light appeared, grew and warped into a portal. Something appeared and the portal disappeared in a flare of blue light. I gasped and for the first time in front of my people, I showed emotion (other than hate).

"Moooo." The newborn Cow Creature exclaimed, punching the air enthusiastically. His white and brown body seemed to shimmer in the light and I scratched his chin. He gave a happy grunt and curled up, asleep. I turned and saw Randulfr standing beside the old man.

"You like?" He asked.

"I love!" I replied. The old man smiled, and there was a sudden shimmer of light. He seemed to shift and change form until he was no longer human, but a god in symbol form, the symbol being a circle with a cross in the middle.

"Who are you?" I asked the god.

"My name is Khazaar. I am an ally." His voice sounded the same as the old man's, but deeper. "I help other gods who need it, and my ultimate aim is to topple the ultimate evil."

"Ultimate evil?" Randulfr asked. He seemed as surprised as me.

"It is a god known as Nemesis." He sighed. "My strength grows weak. Alas, I fear that another god requires my aid."

"Can we help you? Come with you?" Randulfr asked.

"No. I must give this god passage to my home realm. I sense that he alone, has the power to crush Nemesis and his ally, Lethys."

"I could crush him…" I muttered "Will we ever see you again?"

"I hope so. Maybe one day when the wars are all finished, we can meet as friends. I still have a war to fight on my home land, against the allies of Nemesis. Until then, farewell…"

A whirling hole of pink, gold and blue light opened in the ground and Khazaar (still in symbol form) hovered above it, and then dropped into it like a stone into a lake. I stood for a moment, then sighed and turned to my sleeping cow. I thoughtfully scratched his ears and then said to Randulfr:

"What the hell was that all about?"

"Not a clue, old friend." He replied. I chuckled and then asked:

"So what shall we do now? We've defeated our enemy."

"There's a lot of rebuilding to do. And then there's my homeland we should check on. I did leave it unguarded after all…"

"You what!?" I exclaimed.

"Well you were in need of help!" he replied, indignantly "if you care about it so much, you check on it!"

With a causal wave of a hand, a vortex opened in the ground, the swirling colours making my eyes ache just looking at it. I sighed and walked through.

_In _Randulfr's homeland, I stood atop a snow-capped mountain. Below me, a few Norse villages were dotted around the snowy plains and I was impressed at the size: At least three times the size of Knylus' homeland, his was big enough for around twenty villages spread out across its bulk. I gazed across the land for a moment, and then started as I saw something through the whipping snowstorms that buffeted it.

"RANDULFR!" I called "you may want to have a look at this…"

"What?" He muttered, materialising beside me, then: "oh crap…"

On the mountain opposite us, a strange temple that definitely did not belong to Randulfr rose up like a thumb pointing at the sky. It was a completely good, pearly white citadel with statues of angels around its front and beautiful fountains that made up a courtyard on the path to the foot of the mountain. Before the path leading to the strange temple, a large, Greek village was sprawled lazily in the pass. As we watched, a unicorn-like horse descended the steps to the town and began healing people and satisfying their needs. Already, this god or goddess had taken over at least half of Randulfr's towns and villages.

"Here we go again…" I sighed.

**Well that's it for now! End of book one! I decided to leave it open to a sequel in case I felt like doing one, but I hope that YOU, the reader, enjoyed it above all.**

**Please remember to review or Blitz will shock you!**

**Blitz: heh heh heh…**

**Randulfr: Wocha doin?**

**Blitz: (hides lightning) Not much**


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